HARRISON, N.J. – On road trips, sometimes what happens off the field is as important, in the long run, than what happens on it.

During the cantankerous summer of 2016, the last thing the Sounders thought they needed was a multi-city excursion to the East Coast. They were playing poorly, and tempers were short. Those who were invited to Ravi Ramineni’s wedding in Boston in between the New England and D.C. games, however, would reflect back upon it as a subtle, but important bonding experience.

Ramineni, the club’s director of soccer analytics, is reserved, but well liked among the players, and it clearly meant a lot to him that a handful of them showed up. The setting was beautiful, a backyard reception next to a river, and the occasion allowed all of them to forget about soccer, at least for a while. Chad Marshall and Aaron Kovar got a big laugh by pretending to be prom dates and posing for photos.